When did welders, pipe fitters, and carpenters start to get such a bad rap?
At some point, getting a skilled trade went from being a smart idea to a stupid idea. Suddenly, it was all about getting a college degree…the only road to career bliss.
Well, it’s time we put the skilled trades back up on a pedestal. Why? There are jobs to be had!
There’s a great story in the Wall Street Journal today titled: “Skilled Trades Seek Workers.”
When’s the last last time you saw a headline that anyone was actually looking for workers?
From the article:
Even as the economy slumps and unemployment rises, strong demand for power plants, oil refineries and export goods has many manufacturers and construction contractors scrambling to find enough skilled workers to plug current and future holes.
With the shortage of welders, pipe fitters and other high-demand workers likely to get worse as more of them reach retirement age, unions, construction contractors and other businesses are trying to figure out how to attract more young people to those fields.
Their challenge: overcoming the perception that blue-collar trades offer less status, money and chance for advancement than white-collar jobs, and that college is the best investment for everyone.
The reality is not everyone goes to college. In fact, the majority of people in the United States never even get a four-year degree.
Jobs in the trades pay well and they can be very fulfilling.
Many years ago I wrote a story for the New York Times about a woman who decided to become a pipefitter after years of working as a hotel manager. She had always wanted to be a welder, even back when she was a teenager, but her teachers in high school actually discouraged her.
‘’When I asked to take the welding or shop classes, they said it wasn’t for girls,'’ Nannette Cooper told me back in 2000. So, she took courses like shorthand and typing. ‘’I hated it, but I figured you just have to follow the rules,'’ she said.
It may be time to break the rules. At least contractors and unions are banking on it. The shortage of skilled trades workers is expected to reach a fever pitch in the years to come as the Baby Boomers retire, and companies are doing what they can to get the word out about how a job getting your hands a little dirty isn’t all that bad.
Some firms, according to the Journal article, even enlisted the help of Mike Rowe, the hunk host of the Discovery Channel’s “Dirty Jobs”, a show that highlights jobs none of us want to do.
Not surprisingly, marketers for the skilled trades are focusing on the benefits of the trades, and there are many, including good pay and security. But the jobs, many of them, are dirty.
Knowing that, and if you feel you can handle a little dirt under your nails, this career avenue is a great one for career changers, or for kids who don’t want to take the college route.
Come on! Get dirty!
August 20th, 2008 at 3:14 am
Being in the selling side of building trades for a number of years, there is no doubt in my mind that the best architect, the best structural engineers, and the best developers all come from the building trades. I have seen literal ‘meltdowns’ of architects who go from top engineering schools completely fail or have such tremendous overruns that their reputations are destroyed before they even get started. I would say that this occurs at least 90% of the time. Based on so many factors, most designs will work. The problems begin, and always become prevalent when there is an issue of the time involved in the project’s stages. Alot of times it is not because of time consumption, but the fast completion of one phase into another. Only a tradesman will tell you it takes three times as long to wire a building as it does to drywall it, but less time than both to put up the studs. There is so much more to it. But it is safe to say, no one starts from the top and successfully climbs down.
August 21st, 2008 at 11:08 am
I’ve recently moved from a very white-collar office environment to a mid-sized manufacturing firm. I’m amazed by the products produced by our weleders and other fabricators. Sure, the engineers are involved, but the crew on the shop floor is where the magic really happens. Seeing their work has given me a greater appreciation of the trades, especially of the value of a skilled welder. It may be a dirty job, but I’d be pleased if any of my children chose welding or fabircation as a career. For the local economy (a smaller town), the money is good, but it’s nothing compared to the big-money careers so many are caught up chasing. I’ve tried to teach them all that money is not everything, so I hope they’ll make career choices based on what they truly enjoy rather than based on what they think will bring in a decent income.
I work in IT, and I know a lot of people see how I navigate computer and network technologies and are amazed. Well, I’m telling you that I’m just as amazed by the work of a skilled welder, a good carpenter, or a drywaller who can tape and mud and not leave any little blisters along the seams. They have skills I don’t possess, and my hat is off to them all!
August 22nd, 2008 at 12:42 pm
I have been involved in construction for over 45 years from a young age; I can proudly say I am a journeyman carpenter and now a Senior Project Manager - Superintendent, which allows me to be involved with the trades on a daily basis. Some history: I have 8 aunts and uncles, who were educators in their time and who like most professional-semi professional non-construction trades people have a better then thou opinion of themselves. I know I’m stereotyping here. My father built refinery’s, up until the late 60’s as well as, being a journeyman pipe fitter; if the need arose, or he was bored and then he would go back to the tools. Family members of academia regarded him as lower class. Growing up with this confused me. Here was a person who had to be knowledgeable and intelligent to handle complex site conditions and environmental conditions in order to achieve a major goal. Here was a person who because of his profession travel half the world to achieve an objective. Here was a person who made a hell of a lot more money then they did, but did not have the comfort of their definitive closed environment. So where was the issue?
The attitudes have not changed, owners who rely on the construction trades to build their buildings, are for the most part limited in their understanding of construction technology and ignorant/insensitive to fellow humans anyway.
This attitude between owners and the construction industry, unfortunately has been reinforced by the architectural profession, (read the AIA General Conditions, which is a part of every contract)who are supposed to be the all-in knowing entity who conceives these projects; big or small. The truth of the situation, as has always been the case, trade workers save the AE”s ass on a daily basis and make them look good, in the eyes of the owner and the world.
The general public need to understand, trades people are required to serve an apprenticeship in most cases for a period of 4 years, which is I would equate to a college degree. The difference is it is on the job training, which pays more then college and you don’t have student loans to pay back. Granted there are not the finer points of education required, but most these guys hunt in other states, own property at younger ages, have or drive better vehicles then their white collar counter parts, see more country if they are travelers and have a whole lot better pension - retirement programs then most, plus they build America.
If the general public are looking at the construction trades as being low life, then look at the touted professionals who are on the block for heinous crimes and are news worthy.
Long Live the tradesman.
August 22nd, 2008 at 1:19 pm
Amen Cuban!!